A Cat, a Building, Love, and Chips
by MissErahMar
Summary: When Riku finds a door in Kingdom Hearts, he wholly believes that it'll lead him back to his love, Sora. What he doesn't expect is to be dumped into Hollow Bastion, and into the lap of one surly gunbladist... Rated for later chapter. Leon&Riku & others
1. Chapter 1

A Cat, a Building, Love, and Chips

MissErahMar- Sometimes, you just never realize how hard it is to write something...

Today, the day I post the first chapter of this story, is Cinco de Mayo, a very special day to me. Not because I'm Mexican, or like the half-off pitchers of margaritas, but because it is an anniversary. This story is a collaboration of several badly spent lunches, endless yaoi talk, Legal Drug picture ogoling and a surprisingly productive school-funded Cinco de Mayo party --hence the anniversary.

This Cinco de Mayo marks the two year anniversary of this story being in the works. ((Two years for a little over a ten chapters? Sad!))

This new story is very special case, though, embarked on by my friend and I. ((For all extensive purpouses, I shall call her Yaoi-Magnet.)) We discovered that at the point in time of revelation, there was only one RikuxLeon yaoi in existence on this site ((either that or we just weren't looking hard enough...)).

We took it upon ourselves to write another because, honestly, it's a very interesting combination that doesn't really get much thought put into it... That, and it's set between one and two, but not exactly in Chain of Memories. We just kind of pretended that that one doesn't exist and started from there.

For god's sake, no flames. I hate them. I'm sure Yaoi-Magnet would, too. Well, I'm sorry for taking up so much time with the informalities, so, ON WITH THE SHOW!!

--

Prolouge

Riku wandered around Kingdom Hearts, checking everything, and bored out of his skull. There were no Heartless. There hadn't been for a long time. But how long?? Weeks? Months? Time was difficult to gauge in here, but he was very certain that it hadn't been a year yet. Or had it?

Riku shook his head and picked up a rock, giving it a strong throw. He sighed as it bounced off some distant boulders and felt his spirits fall even further than they were. _Sora..._ The thought of his friend --the holder of his heart-- made him pick up another stone to huck it into the distance. Before he could even pull back his arm, he felt a presence. _Hah._ He thought, spinning around. _Finally, a little act--!!_

He felt the color drain from his face, and felt a bead of cold sweat make its way from his temple to his jaw. Standing free of anything was a large door. It reminded Riku painfully of the door in the secret place, of Destiny Islands, and Sora.

This one was different, though. Different by far. The door itself seemed to be made of blue painted stone, and was housed in a frame of crystal. Riku warily paced around it, looking to see if there was anything more to it. There wasn't. Nothing behind back, no Heartless, no Ansem, nothing. Coming back to the front of the door, something caught his eye. Set inside of a large, golden heart was a key hole, smack dab in the center of the door. _That wasn't there before..._

Placing a hand on it, Riku felt the cold metal, the cold stone, and a feeling of hope. Maybe this was the way out! Maybe... maybe he could finally get back to Sora. Giving it a hopeful, albeit, useless shove, Riku decided that he would find out how to open it no matter what. Besides, he knew that doors like this were fickle, and every minute counted.

Searching every inch of the door itself, front and back, he started in on the frame. After three and a half hours of searching the door, the frame, and the surrounding area within ten feet of it, he fell to his knees before the door, near both defeat and tears.

"Why won't you open, dammit?!" He beat on the door with his fists as tears silently slid down his face. Looking up at it, the key hole seemed to glint tauntingly at him. "Why can't you just open?!" _I guess I'll never see you again, Sora..._ His body shook violently from the sobs that came soundless from his mouth. _Sora... Sora... door... key...hole??_ Something in his mind seemed to slide into place. _Door... keyhole... key... Keyblade!! I have to use the Keyblade to open it!_

Standing up and wiping off his wet cheeks, he concentrated and called his keyblade to him. It appeared to him in small bursts of darkness, settling itself into his hand once again. Riku stared at it, and gave a small nervous gulp. What if it didn't work, though? The only person Riku had known to use a Keyblade on doors was Sora. Well, the King too, but he was a mouse...

With some difficulty, Riku pushed all doubt out of his mind. _It's worth a try._ He brought the Keyblade up level with the keyhole, and let his eyes slide closed. He concentrated with all his heart, hoping that he had gotten the right idea, hoping that it would open the door for him. He waited for what seemed like forever, beads of sweat welling up and dripping down his face.

About to scream in anguish, embarrasment, and anger, he heard a click. Riku's eyes snapped open, and he stared in amazement as the door softly slid ajar a few inches. He barely noticed his Keyblade dissappear back into the darkness from whence it came, as his gaze held by the opened door. Grabbing the stone door, he swung it open easily, and stared as the void before him. It wasn't black, and all darkness, but there was some sort of warm inner light that shown from the depths.

_Sora... I'm coming._

--

Chapter 1- Paint Buckets and Ass Kickings

Riku stepped out of the door into very unfamiliar surroundings. He took a few steps and looked around. Buildings of heavy stone were everywhere, and they compromised every view he had to see anything but. _Sora can't be here. This... he just can't..._

Turning around to go back through the door, he saw nothing but a blank stretch of stone wall. Riku's brow furrowed in confusion and thought, and so he set off. If he was stuck here, he might as well look...

--

The silver-haired searcher had been walking around for an hour and a half without running into a single person. Well, that was about to change...

Rounding a corner with his hands laced behind his head, Riku happened upon a very lovely scene. On a long stretch of wall there was a mural being painted. The scene was of a lovely and beautiful sunset over the ocean, and gathered thickly around the edges was many types of foliage and tropical flowers. Seen in the middle of it all was a small strech of bare beach, waves crashing on the sand. Riku felt his heart pang with hurt and longing. It looked too close to the island that he and all of his friends had played on back at Destiny Islands...

As if to snap him from this painful reverie, movement caught his eye close to the far end, and he focused on it a little more intently. It was a man with long dark hair, and some very tight leather pants. Riku gave a small smile and caught his bottom lip up with his teeth. The shirt was a simple white button-down, but he could tell that by the way it was hanging, not only was it untucked, but it was unbuttoned as well.

Riku started to weave his way towards the man, sidestepping the numerous open cans of paint that were scattered everywhere in this small plaza, when the man gave a half turn, examining his handiwork. Catching a glimpse of the painter's face, he realized it was the man that he had seen with Sora in Traverse Town! The man wasn't clad in leather now, but it was him, Riku was sure of it.

Starting forward with a little more initative than before, Riku's fast-paced footsteps easily caught Leon's attention. His eyes widened a bit at the sight of this boy. He had seen him before, in Traverse Town. That glance of he and Maleficent out of the window in the small house seemed so long ago.

"You!" He heard the boy say. "You can tell me where--"

Before either of them knew what happened, it happened. Riku wasn't watching where he was going, so he tripped over an open paint can, somehow got it tangled up in his feet, and flung it straight at Leon. Riku landed paintless, but hard on his back. He gasped to regain the air that had been forced out of him, but only coughed after every one. He was soon enough able to catch his breath, and he looked up at Leon, which was easy because he had basically landed with his head resting on Leon's boots.

The man was covered in blue paint. It slicked back that lustrious mane of hair that he had, covered his face, and dripped down his well toned chest. Leon raised a hand and wiped it away from his eyes, only to end up staring at it. He got lost in the color; the paint was the color of Sora's eyes. That perfect sapphire-blue sucked him into memories he had told himself that he was better off forgetting.

What brought him back to reality was Riku.

"Oh, my bad." Riku's voice was laced with sarcasm as he gave a smug smirk. "Whoa!" he said, quickly rolling out of the way and standing to avoid dripping paint.

Sh-leck "You're dead."

Riku's smirk never wavered for an instant. "Aw... So soon?" He placed a fisted hand on his hip. "Not that it matters anyway. I have no time to deal with you physically."

"Too bad. You're going to." Leon's stormy eyes took on a molten look. Taking a glance over his shoulder, he was momentarily relieved to see that there was no paint splattered on the mural, unlike himself. Locking his eyes with the heated aquamarines, Leon slowly took a few steps backwards and grabbed his Gunblade, never once looking away.

Riku let out an amused huff, and tilted his head to the side, staring. "Well, if you want to play..." He flung out his hand, calling his Keyblade back from the darkness. "... then we'll play."

The two stared each other down like rival beasts, neither moving, or seemingly, breathing. A gust of wind blew down the street, waving dark hair in Leon's line of vision. Narrowing his eyes, Riku's smirk dropped off his face as he took the offensive.

In an instant, the two were fighting fiercely, like the afore mentioned beasts. Every swing was parried, every close-quartered punch was blocked. They paid no attention to the surrounding paint cans, ending up with a multi colored fighting surface that was slick as oil.

Riku's quick eyes picked up on a opening, and he swung into action. Quickly diverting Leon's slash to the side, Riku took a run, and slid on the paint, right between Leon's legs. In the few seconds of confusion, Riku stood, and clamped a hand firmly on the leather clad ass. Leon yelped. _Too tempting to pass up._ Leon whipped around, arm flinging outward towards Riku's head. Riku ducked, blow missing, but slipped, and sent the contents of an untouched paint can sloshing towards the wall. Leon's eyes widened, watching the paint coming within mere inches of his masterpiece.

As Riku stood up, Leon eyed him threateningly. "You put one drop of paint on that," he said, gunblade gesturing towards the wall, "And you'll lose something very dear to you."

"Oh really? What--"

Riku's breath was knocked out of him for the second time as he was put flat on his back. Paint was seeping into his clothes and hair, and his head was ringing. Opening his eyes, he saw Leon, leaning over him, very close to his face. Trying to move his arms, he found that Leon had him pinned! Leon smirked as he watched the silver haired boy struggle underneath of him. Moving one knee to rest in between Riku's, Leon used it to press up. He heard Riku's breath catch.

"That's 'what'." he said in Riku's ear.

As soon as he let go, Riku scrambled away, and readied himself with his Keyblade. Leon brought the gunblade down in a slash, slinging paint off of it, and charged. CLANG!!The two weapons met, letting the crash of metal ring throughout, reverberating off the stone. The opponents stepped back from each other, circling, observing. The gray of Leon's eyes carefully watched the aquamarine of Riku's, catching all movement. Something was cooking behind those calculating eyes of his, but what, Leon couldn't exactly say.

Riku slid his tounge over his bottom lip, counting how many steps his next plan would take. With a quick lunge to the right, and a feint to the center, he saw Leon's boots lose traction on the paint, and he struck. With a cry, he slashed fiercely at the blue splattered chest. Leon saw the keyblade, and reacted quickly, dropping the gunblade, and bending backwards. For all his efforts, the keyblade caught skin, giving a shallow slice on his left bicep.

Grunting, Leon landed hard on his arms, with a shloop in the paint, covering his leather pants. Riku huffed haugtily, his signature smirk returning to grace his face. The man was as agile as the cat his name proclaimed him to be. _Only without the keen ability of balance._ Crossing his arms, he kicked the gunblade far out of reach, and allowed his keyblade to dissappear. He stared arrogantly down at Leon, who only glared back. A dull glint behind Riku caught his eye, and he decided that it was his only chance. Snaking out his leg, Leon knocked Riku's legs out from under of him, and sent him windmilling backwards.

Gonnggg!!

The back of that silver haired head hit impossibly hard on a tipped over paint can. The aim was perfect, and he blacked out instantly, to Leon's great amusment. Standing up, Leon, wiped off as much paint off of his good pants as he possibly could, and grabbed up his gunblade. Throwing a stare in Riku's direction, he started off, heading to his apartment.

But something kept bringing his eyes back to the downed boy behind him. The boy looked like a sleeping angel, the way his hair was cascading around him in a rainbow of color, instead of the snarky, petulant teenager he was. Leon looked up at the sky. It was darkening, and it was going to be night very soon. And here, night brought bitter cold. Paint didn't dry in cold, or dark. It just got cold. And cold caused sickness. And if left untreated, pnemonia, and then death.

"... Goddammit."

Leon stalked back over to Riku, wrapped an arm around his waist, and threw him over his shoulder. Ignoring the new amount of paint now dripping down his back and front, he trudged his way out of the street and towards the far end of town.


	2. Chapter 2: Black Silk Skins

A Cat, a Building, Love, and Chips

MissErahMar- Eh he he he... Uh, sorry that the next chapter is late of sorts. I was going to make it a twice-a-month update, but yeah... that flew out of the window as soon as Finals started to come crashing in on me. Well, here's the second chapter to 'A Cat, A Building, Love, and Chips', 'Shopping List' for short. ((Cos' ya know, if you read it aloud it sounds like a weird shopping list! O! BTW, if anyone wants to know where we got the strange title, I'll be happy to explain it if you ask.))

And a big thank you for the nice reviews from **Obsessive-Compulsive-KSARA**, **Mizuki hikari**, **BlueMoonDog**, and **slyswn28**. We appreciate it more than you know. ((& yea. I liked the paint-fight scene, too.))

To everyone else: You know the drill. Read & review!! For an extra thrill, repeat the drill.

Chapter 2- Black Silk Skins

"Uhh... whirruh?"

Riku tried to lift his head, but it brought only a dull throbbing, so he just lay there. He didn't want to think what opening his eyes would do, instead, he ran his hands over the surface he was laying on. It was soft, but unfamiliar. A faint memory flitted through the back of his mind, telling him that he had once laid on this before, but when, he couldn't remember.

His hands trailed up to his head, and felt the soft lump that it was resting on. _A pillow..._ Riku laughed softly, and shifted his weight, bringing about a creak of metal with it. He stopped, thinking hard. Where the hell was he?

Against the advice of his own brain, he sat up carefully, ignoring the throb, and opened his eyes. Honestly, there wasn't anything to see. It was a smallish room, wood floored, bare walls, dark. A single window behind him, shade drawn, and a bare brass bed which he was laying on. Naked mattress, naked pillow, nothing important. Rolling up the shade, he looked out across an expanse of caverns, and a beautiful sunset.

"Hmm. Seems like you're awake." Riku whipped his head around to see Leon leaning against the doorless frame. When did he get there? Leon, as he saw, was in a different set of clothing. About to say something, he was abruptly cut off by a bag landing on his face. Ripping it off, he heard Leon say, "Put these on. You need to get out of those clothes before they dry to you permanently."

Riku looked at his own clothes before opening the bag. He had noticed before that his clothes were a little tight, and now he knew why. The paint had dried to his skin. Plunging his hand into the bag with a huff, Riku felt something very soft and silky. Drawing it out, it was a pair of black silk pajamas. "What the hell are these?" He asked curtly.

"They're clothes that you'd better wear." Leon replied, dislodging himself from his lounging position. "I went through the trouble of stealing those from Cloud, and it wasn't easy. You go change, and I'll be back in a few minutes."

Riku watched Leon's retreating back and scoffed. "_That you'd better wear...!_" He repeated in a mocking voice. "Like I have to do anything for him..."

And yet, Riku still stripped off his shirt, and replaced it with the pajama top. It felt remarkably wonderful, so he decided to put on the bottoms as well. He twisted around in it, allowing a smile to cross his face. The silk felt REALLY good.

Kneeling on the mattress with another creak, Riku popped open the window, and a breeze hit him full in the face. It was fresh and clean, and felt almost as good as the pajamas, but still lacked the salty smell that Riku longed for. With a sigh, he leaned back against the high back of the bed frame. Staring out the window at the fading sunlight, his thoughts strayed. Where was he? He didn't know. All he knew was that it wasn't Destiny Islands. Where was Sora? He couldn't answer this either. He wasn't here, wherever 'here' was. Why did that God forsaken door choose to spit him out here, of all places?

"..."

Riku decided to do what he could to get out of here to get back to his beloved Sora... whatever it took. Swinging his legs off the bed he stood up, and felt a small patch of cold breeze waft over his left shoulder blade. Grabbing his shoulder and glancing back, he saw a ragged hole cut in the back.

_... Oh COME ON!!_ "Who in the hell has a hole this big in their pajamas?!"

"Cloud." Riku looked to the side, unsurprised to see Leon standing next to the doorway, but he was a little surprised to see him setting down what seemed to be a bit of food. "He has a wing on his left side, so he can't exactly wear clothes normally."

"Well, bully for him, huh? Listen, I'm not here to take charity from anyone. I don't even know why I'm here. I'm in the middle of a..." He paused. He had never put this to words before. he took a leap and hoped to God it sounded right. "... a search and find mission. Now, if you'll excuse me, or even if you won't, I'm--"

"You're looking for Sora." Leon watched with a slight smile on his face as shock clearly registered on Riku's face. "Right?" He knew he was.

"So what if I--"

"If you are, he's not here. I haven't seen him for going on six months. No one has. Even if we had, it's not like you'd find out from anyone here." Everyone that Sora had come to know closely knew the stories. Everyone knew how Riku had treated Sora on his journey to stop the Heartless. To them all, Riku was lower than dirt. And yet, Leon had helped him, for reasons unknown to even his own heart.

"Oh yeah?" Riku folded his arms over his chest, eyes glittering in challenge. "How come??" His voice was soft and dangerous.

"Because," Leon said, moving to stand in front of Riku, "no one here likes you. Sora told us what you did. Everything you did."

"Did he also tell you it wasn't my fault?"

"No. You're probably lying."

"I'm not! It wasn't my fault!!"

"Like hell it wasn't!"

"I was being controlled you dickhead! Y'know, I don't have to explain myself to you. You're not Sora, so your opinion of me is meaningless. I'm leaving."

Riku shoved past Leon, heading for the door. Leon wasn't going to let this argument stand at what the little brat decided. "Oh, we're not through!" he yelled, making a grab for the back of the pajamas.

Riku yanked agaist his hold. "Let me go, dammit!!" he yanked again, coming free.

Leon grabbed again, this time threading his fingers through the hole in the shirt. "No! Not until you--"

Riiip!

Both Leon and Riku pulled in opposite directions, effectively removing almost half of the back panel, and ripping a new gash across the arm. Both stopped, shocked, surprised, most of their previous anger forgotten. Leon stared blankly at the chunk of black silk in his hand. _Well... Cloud's gonna be pissed..._ He rolled his eyes, deciding to just take the blonde's reaction in stride, when he spotted something pale and ragged running across Riku's exposed back. Taking a step closer, he saw that there were several more scars accompaning the big one he'd noticed.

Riku felt Leon run a finger down one... _That's from Selphie..._ and then another... _That's when all three of them tried to gang up on me... _ and lastly down the big one. He shuddered. That one was from Sora, from their last battle.

The finger traced it's way from the bottom, to the top, following the path that wound itself over Riku's shoulder. A soft hand rested itself atop it, and a thumb rubbed over the heavily scarred skin. Riku shuddered again, but this time, it wasn't from old memeories. Comfort, heat and care... three things he hadn't felt in a very long time, especially all at once. The hand shifted again, this time, ripping the cloth further on the arm, continuing to follow the scar. The arm finally sild off, and the hand continued to move, even though the scar had stopped long ago.

It finally rested on top of Riku's heart, rubbing in small, comforting, circles, until Riku took it on himself to break the contact. The man had not ten minutes before, basically declared his hate for the silver-haired boy, and yet, he seemed completely at ease to comfort him with little restraint.

Leon stared dazedly at the boy who had pushed away from him, then blinked a few times, regaining his senses. His eyes closed half way, and he grabbed the things he had set aside earlier. In the almost completely black light, he pulled out a tin lantern and a lighter. Putting flame to the wick, he hung it on a hook dangling from the ceiling. In the dim and wavering light it cast, he brought out a few containers of food, and set them on the mattress.

"The lantern should be able to burn all night," he said softly to Riku's still turned back. "and the shower in the next room works fine. The water's a little rusty colored, but it's safe to use."

Riku just stood there, listening into the darkness, hearing the bootsteps fade away.

--

The dim lights glinted off the sweat-sheened biceps as they flexed with the exertion of hefting the Gunblade around at nothing but personal demons. Leon's chest heaved with the effort of going on five straight hours of training. Well, that's what he called it. Everyone else knew it as his own personal time to vent and beat himself up.

Panting, he let the Gunblade slip from his hands as he fell heavily against the wall, and slid downward to the ground. Landing on his backside, he found himself in an uncomforatble position, with his knees scrunched tightly against his chest. Wriggling, he slung his legs out across the cool and relieving stones, which quickly cooled his tight and sweat soaked jeans.

Sighing, he started massaging a knot in his neck, working his way downward. When he brushed against the bandage on his arm, he let out a hiss, and abruptly put his head back against the wall, harder than usual on purpouse.

Before his eyes, Riku, and that arrogant smirk loomed up, taunting him. In an instant though, that dissolved, only to be replaced with the image of the Gunblade expert's hand slowly rubbing Riku's shoulder. What the hell was wrong with him? What in God's name caused him to react to that boy like THAT?? It was just a few scars!! For God's sake, he had scars, too!! One was plainly displayed on his face, like a warrior's beacon! But you didn't see anyone caressing it with feathery touches!

So why him? Why that way? He hated the boy. Didn't he? Leon growled at this second guessing of his own feelings, and smacked a fist against the wall in frustration. Attraction was no simple thing to toy with, but it seemed to make a game of toying with him, making him follow whichever way weilded skill, and power, reguardless of who it was housed in.

"It's about time you finally finished up."

Leon had no desire to face the owner of the bubbly voice. He knew who it was. "How long you been standing there, Yuffie?"

"Not long." Quick, quiet footsteps made their way over to him, and Yuffie was soon crouched in his line of vision. "You've basically been gone for two days, and we've been making regular checks on the bailey to see if you're here. Add the last five hours to that, and it adds up to one very tired man."

"Whatever." Leon tried to gesture her away with his left arm, only to wince in pain.

Yuffie took notice of the bandage, which was now sopping with fresh blood. "God, Leon," she cried, pulling off the soiled gauze, "you keep throwing that damn Gunblade of yours around the way you do, and you're gonna open this up wide enough for you arm to fall off! Dumbshit."

Leon merely grunted in reply as Yuffie yanked off her headband to wrap it around her friend's arm in lieu of a clean bandage. Finished, she plopped down in front of Leon, and started to fiddle with her laces absently. It was a few quiet moments before Yuffie spoke again, but this time much more solemnly.

"Leon... I know that you do this a lot, but this was different than any other training session that you've had. Five hours with no breaks of any kind? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Leon..."

"Leave me alone, Yuffie. I'm fine."

"..." Yuffie pursed her lips, and stood up with a stomp of her boots. "Fine. Don't tell me. Just lull yourself into denial about whatever it is. You do it all the time anyway, so why should this be anything different?" she clenched her fists and stomped out of there before Leon could even think another word.

Momentarily distracted from his own problems, he snickered softly. _Just like a bratty kid..._ But even Yuffie couldn't keep his mind wandering back to the silver haired teenager that was probably now sleeping.

Growling, he picked up his Gunblade, and started hacking away at those personal demons again.


	3. Chapter 3: Hidden Things

MisErahMar: Hey guys!! Thanks for putting up with me, and my total laziness when it comes to this story. It's been over a year now, since I last updated, and it's been over 4 years since I started this collab with Yaoimagnet. Time sure flies when you're picking your nose. In any case, to make it up, I'm going to give you a sneak preview of another story that Yaoimagnet and I are going to be working on later. Hopefully you'll like it and forgive me!!

And once again, thanks to everyone that reads, reviews and favorites this story!! ^__^ I love you all, and so does Yaoimagnet!! I swear!

Chapter 3- Hidden Things

Riku awoke to a grumbling stomach for yet another daybreak. He shot a sleepy look at the mostly empty containers of food sitting by the door. Apparently, Leon hadn't made his night time stop-by to leave him more food, and yet another threatening note. The most recent had been something along the lines of, "If you step one foot out of this building, I will hand you over to the wolves of Hollow Bastion. In other words, the others that hate you as much as I do."

Riku sat up in bed, running a hand through his hair, and across his eyes. He had basically been trapped here for almost a week now. Albeit in a six story building, it was still trapped, and a prison. He was alone, and really just kept to the sixth-floor bedroom that he found himself in in the first place.

He had seen no one, except Leon, who mostly dropped by every other night, and very quietly. He took the empty containers and replaced them with full ones, but occasionally, he tried a poor hand at keeping his temper under control during a conversation in daylight. He apparently though that Riku was not worth his time.

And as to what Riku thought of the man himself? Well, he was an asshole, that fact was irrefutable. And he had a temper issue and carried angst about him llike others carried training weights around their limbs. But who could resist that kind of body for long? Slim hips, nice ass, great chest. When you had nothing to do, you started thinking about what little you had. Riku inadvertently found himself pushing Sora out of his mind more and more often to ponder about the brooding Gunblade expert. His fantastic body wasn't the only thing on his mind, though. Those eyes held mysteries about his present self, but that scar... it spoke of a painful, turbulent past. _If only I could see his other scars..._

Oozing out of bed, Riku dropped himself next to the food, and popped open one of the small, half-full containers that were left. He examined the "Mystery Meat on Rice" for strange molds, and finding none, dumped it into his mouth. Running his finger around the inside of the container like a small child with a cake bowl, he licked off the remaining rice and whisked though his criteria for the day. All there was to do was "Explore".

He had looked all around the bottom five floors for anything at all to do in the past week, and found there was little to do, except to look. There wasn't even any other furniture in this place except for his bed. It was all a little confusing. A perfectly good, although DUSTY building, seemingly made for a lot of people to live in, going to perfectly good waste. Even all the plumbing worked.

"Well," Riku muttered, standing, "I have a long day of nothing ahead of me, so I'd best get goin'." He sighed, stepping over to the bed. "I'm going nowhere, and I'm thrilled to death about it--!"

His words abruptly cut off with his foot dropping about an inch without any warning except a squeak of floorboards. Looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a loose floorboard, and the nature of cause-and-effect was taking ahold. The old saying for curiosity was running though his head, but Riku pushed it quickly away with a smirk. _But satisfaction brought it back._

Kneeling down and quickly grabbing ahold of it, he pulled it up and out. Peering down into the darkness, he saw a faint glint of something metallic, so he grabbed for it. Riku donned a look of surprise and delight as he pulled up an eight-stack of chocolate. Bright orange paper over foil, marked "Milk Chocolate: Delicious and Creamy.", rubber-banded together. Reaching back in, he pulled out another stack, but covered in bright pink paper, reading "Dark Chocolate" instead of "Milk".

Riku knew that there wasn't anymore in there --who hid twenty-four chocolate bars in an empty building?-- but was pleasantly surprised when he plunged his hand in again to retrieve yet more candy, this stack being bright green papered carmel-filled milk chocolate. Riku fell backwards, roaring, laughing harder than he had in ages, tears filling his eyes. It was a few minutes before he stopped, and wiped off his wet cheeks. There had to be a reason to this! No one did this just because! Even if someone was hungry, that wouldn't explain twenty-four chocolate bars!! Twenty-four DIFFERENT chocolate bars!!

And in taking a sideways glance at the tipped over dark chocolate, he saw the reason. On a piece of paper held on by the rubber band, was a note scrawled out in neat handwriting.

_"PMS Reserves, use only if needed. Note: Yuffie usually likes the caramel, and Aerith milk chocolate. P.S. You use the candy, you replace it."_

Okay. That explained it. But what if there was more?? Curiosity fueled his imagination and hunger fueled his actions. Once again, he delved into the hole in the floor, but this time, his hand brushed against something that wasn't chocolate, but certainly wasn't harmful. He pulled out a plastic bag --several actually-- each marked the same way, and bearing the same note.

"Ohhh... he he he..." Riku chuckled, reading the paper taped to the bag. "You're kidding me. I found the "Secret Stash"? Oh, this is going to be fun."

---

Dawn broke over Hollow Bastion, and over Leon, who was wide awake, and stretched spread eagle over his bed, covers mauled and thrown everywhere. He had slept fitfully all night, his dreams always interrupted by visions of the slim, sliver haired boy with those intense aquamarine eyes. Even now, they hovered before Leon's, cast by his mind against the ceiling.

Even when his dreams hadn't been interrupted by the boy, persay, Riku was always there, usually too close for Leon's own comfort, as it generally caused him discomfort. Betweeen his legs.

Leon rubbed a weary hand across his face. He had to do something. Leon knew his body couldn't stand much more of his 'training' before it collapsed in rebellion. So fine. He would. He would do something. Only... the only two options that kept popping to mind were:

1) Yell at Riku, then kill the smug and ungreatful bastard,

or,

2) Yell at Riku, then fuck him.

Personally, both options sounded equally appealing, and both would most likely help his problem, but Leon just couldn't decide which to choose.

Standing up, Leon tossed on his shirt and pulled on his jeans. Grabbing his jacket and boots off of a nearby chair, he slipped them on and sauntered out the door. He had only one thing on his mind, and that was to yell. Whatever happened afterwards would happen.

It took about twenty minutes to get from Leon's apartment building across town to the one where he was keeping Riku penned up. The stone and brick building stood alone on a large empty lot, facing the edge of a cliff. Walking up onto the porch, Leon ignored the "Condemned! Dangerous!" sign hanging on the door, and placed his key in the deadbolt. There really wasn't anything wrong with the building itself, just where they had decided to build it.

They had just finished the water and plumbing when Cid re-ran his calculations, and announced to everyone that was stone-set on moving in as soon as the building was finished (or even before that) that the cliff was going to collapse and take the building with it. What he probably should have mentioned first was the fact that this probably wasn't going to happen for another thirty to forty years, but it was too late. Everyone was in a panic, and the building was left to deteriorate until due time.

Soooooo.... Leon used it for his hideout when he needed to duck out of life for a few days. No one went near it, except a few 'daredevil' kids that wanted a story of how they escaped from the building as it went falling down the cliff, so he wasn't bothered. Thank God for the sixth story and goldfish attention spans, eh?

Leon crested the last of the stairs and rounded the wall of the skeleton living room to see Riku stretched across the mattress on the bed, happy, content, and possibly asleep. Sunlight filtered through the open window, accompanied by the usual, cool, Hollow Bastion breeze, which made Leon's discomfort start to mount. The cool air that wafted across Riku's bare chest made his nipples perk from the temperature (he had long since discarded the shredded pajama top), and the light just made it so Leon could see them clearly.

Leon's mouth slipped into it's usual scowl as he tried to fight down his own passion rising. _It's just not fair!! Why does it have to be him? Why not someone else??_

_"Life isn't fair, Leonhart. Y'just gotta learn that." Laughter as Leon's face slipped into it's scowl._

_"But of course, Strife, skateboarding isn't really a metaphor for life." Cloud just grinned at his own high score._

The Gunblade expert rolled his eyes at the memory, and leaned against the doorframe. "Hey. Get up." he snapped. Riku looked up at him, and let out a little child-like moan, letting his head fall back on the mattress. Leon gently pulled at his bottom lip with his teeth, thinking that he could make that moan a little louder, and make Riku's head fall back a little harder... _STOP THAT!!!!_ He screamed inside his head. _He's a selfish brat that hurt Sora in more ways that one!! He's not worth it to try to even.... TRY!!!_ "I said get UP!!" Leon shouted with a kick to the brass bedframe.

Riku leapt quickly off the bed, feet landing with a soft 'thump'. "Geez!! What the hell's wrong with you?? Someone finally kick your sorry ass?"

"Shut up. Just Shut Up."

"Why are you here? What do you want??"

"An explanation. Why are you here? How did you get here? What happened to Ansem? Why are you chasing Sora?"

"Why in the bloody hell do you even want to fucking know?? It's none of your business, anyway!"

"When it comes to Sora, I make it my business."

"Well too bad, Leon. You don't get to know! It's strictly personal matters between me and Sora, so drop it!!"

"Never." Leon growled, glaring. "I won't let you hurt him again."

"Hmph. Then you should have killed me when you had the chance."

Riku smirked as he saw Leon's eyes slide into a glare. "What are you going to do to him?" He heard the Gunblade expert growl.

"Nothing that you wouldn't enjoy."

"..." Leon rolled his eyes and pursed his lips. "Forget it. I don't even know why I tried to talk to you."

Riku just rolled his eyes back. "Next time, actually try talking instead of yelling. It might work better." The silver haired teen jumped backwards, flopping on the bed. "And take that stick out of your ass. Or get one put in. It might make you happier." Riku smiled as he heard furious stutters from Leon.

He saw Leon throw his arms up in frustration, and turn on his heel to leave. Riku's head shifted slightly on the pillow, and made a muffled crinkly sound. It was now or never. Leon's frustration was at its peak, and Riku was going to push the man as far as he possibly could.

"Leon!!" he yelled out happily.

"What?!?!" Leon roared back, flipping around, hair making sizzling sounds in the air.

Riku feinted shock and disdain. "Well, if that's the way you're going to act, then I won't tell you."

The chocolate brunette sighed angrily. "What?"

Riku grinned sweetly. He was having fun, now. "Say please."

"Don't push yourself. You depend on me for food. I could easily poison it." Leon snarled.

"You're not that type of person, Leon." Riku sat up, sliding his pillow behind him. It was just a perfect lead up... "You'd prefer to see my face when you kill me. Besides, it's not like I'd go hungry. I found your stash."

Leon tensed and stared down the silver haired boy. Had he really? "What stash?" he asked cautiously.

"Your PMS chocolate. I have to say, that's some pretty good chocolate you got there. Tasty as all hell."

Leon's shoulders dropped minutely as he relaxed. A ghost of a relieved smile whispered past his lips, then disappeared. "Whatever. I blame you if Hollow Bastion gets destroyed by rampaging woman-warriors due to a shortage of chocolate." He turned back around to leave again, confident that his personal stash was safe.

"Oh, yeah. I found your chips, too."

"Ah!" Leon squeaked, stopping dead. His chips!!!! Turning around, he saw Riku holding up a bag of his Cheddar and Sour Cream chips. His biggest weakness, known only by his close friends. And now, known by the laughing brat holding one of the bags of the coveted chips hostage. "My chips..." he whimpered. Suddenly angry, "Put those back right now, you son of a bitch!"

"No!" Riku laughed. Oh, this was turning out better than he had imagined it! "These chips are way too tasty to put back into a hole like that!"

"WHAAT?!?! You ATE some?!?!" This couldn't be happening... This couldn't be happening... This couldn't be happening...

"Yeah. Two bags!" Riku chirped. Oh God!! It really was!!! "See, if they had been barbecue, that's a different story. I hate barbecue. Barbecue is nasty. Cheddar on the other--"

Before Riku knew what was happening, Leon had the chip-thief tightly by the arms, cutting off speech. Heated gray eyes glared into surprised aqua ones. Eyes flicked back and forth on both faces, one set frightened, the others frightening. But even as Leon glared at Riku, his eyes lost their angry fire, replaced with the burn of want and passion.

"I'm going to take every chip you devoured out of your sorry ass." He threatened half-heartedly, after finally regaining his tongue.

Riku smirked weakly, caught up in Leon's eyes. "Sounds fun..." he replied softly. When did Leon start looking at him that way? He hadn't noticed.

He felt Leon's grip relax as he stepped closer to the smaller figure. Gloved hands slid down muscled arms, and met behind the boy, pulling him close. The chip bag fell to the floor as Riku's arms wound themselves up and around Leon's neck, hands buried in his chocolate locks.

Leon slowly leaned down and softly pressed his lips against Riku's, receiving in reply a kiss back, and a happy, muffled noise. Leon kissed Riku again, this time a little harder, more insistent and wanting. _No! NO!!! This is wrong!!! Stop!! STOP!!!_ His mind screamed at him.

But he didn't want to.

One of Leon's hands slid up Riku's bare back, causing him to shiver, and entwined itself in Riku's silver strands, gently pulling him closer. What in the world was causing him to do this? Leon didn't know, and he didn't care.

Riku felt himself being pulled towards the towering brunette, and went willingly. Something called out from this singular body, and it seemed something along the lines of 'Fuck me'. Riku fisted his hands in Leon's hair, and pulled, bringing lips down further, and captured them hungrily, kissing him with a needful passion that he hadn't felt before.

Leon moved his head down to Riku's neck, and started to kiss and nibble there. Riku tilted his head back, bangs sliding backwards and off, and let out a bit-off moan when Leon ran his lips across his throat, his tongue following the path afterwards. Riku shuddered as Leon shifted again and ran his hot tongue along the outer rim of his ear, causing him to grip Leon tightly.

Although enjoying the lusty haze that was settling over him, something popped up in the back of Riku's head. _Leon shouldn't get to have all the fun..._ Agreeing with the comment he knew had come from below his waist, he slowly and inticingly slid his hands up the soft cloth of Leon's shirt, getting a surprised gasp from the man.

Fingers drifting slowly everywhere, they undid every single zipper on the clothing item that they could find, leaving it to lie loosely on the finely chiseled chest that Riku was now fondling. Riku listened to Leon's breath speed up as his hands, as if of their own volition, slithered underneath the shirt to tease Leon's pert nipples.

Leon tilted his head back slightly, giving a breathy gasp. He stared at the ceiling from under heavily lidded eyes, feeling the touches spark bolts of pure lust in his body. He hadn't felt anything this --good-- for... a while.

"Riku..." he moaned softly, earning a smirk from the teen that was teasing him.

It was then that reality came crashing back down on him, roughly yanking him out of his lustful haze in a heartbeat.

_Riku?! Were we...??_

He looked down, seeing his clothing undone, and Riku looking back at him with questioning, yet glittering eyes, hands still up the other's shirt. Aghast, Leon pushed the silver haired teen back harshly, causing him to fall back onto the floor. How had this happened? He could only hear their sounds echoing in the silence, ringing in his ears, his only answer.

Breathing quickening in fear, and cheeks burning in shame, he turned and ran, bootsteps echoing throughout the empty building._ Why did I do that?_ _What's happening to me?_

---

MissErahMar: Awright, you know the drill, me hearties. Read, review, and move on. For an extra thrill, repeat the drill.


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